Bad timing is everything.
Fighting off a head cold, pseudo-successfully. Pretty much lost my voice yesterday. Missed dinner with Richard Thursday, a party yesterday evening, and will miss another party today. As much as I’d like to go out, the thought of sharing a head cold with folks isn’t particularly appetizing (which I’m sure they appreciate). This would, of course, happen when I have a full social schedule. Grrr.
The typical DC spring thunderstorm just blew through, making a mess of the early to mid afternoon commute. Saw many folks caught unawares, lots running for shelter, and tons of lightning coming down. Thankfully it was a fast moving storm, and it’s pretty much gone now, and should be nice and pleasant by the time I have to ride home.
‘Twas a pleasant weekend. Did some shopping Sunday, including a massive Whole Paycheck Foods trip to pick up much needed sundries. Indulged my inner fag and finally broke down and bought some Garland and Callas for the music collection. Has been most pleasant listening to them at work today.
Well, that and Julie Brown’s, “The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun.†My tastes are nothing if not eclectic.
Joe was kind enough to take some pictures yesterday and I’ll get some of those uploaded later this evening.
Going to make a batch of pesto this evening and kill some time with the TiVo. The ST:DS9 episodes are starting to pile up and I’d like to get through a couple more so I don’t overwhelm the poor machine. Nice and low-key, perhaps with some Big House Pink as well.
Hate me, for I have (access to) a pool.
I’ve just spent the last 3+ hours sunning myself and/or swimming.
*cough*45 SPF sunscreen*cough*
I shall have to see what it takes to have a pool party here. I heard something about “hiring security” or the like. Anyway, would be fun. In the meantime, I’m hanging about the house nekkid while I see how burnt I got. Though so far no red (yay 45 SPF), just a mild edge taken off the normal lilly white.
This after spending several hours out watching my newbies do their first real (practice) triathlon race this morning in east Potomac park. Was fun, I enjoy cheering and watching them improve. We have several who are even possibly competitive level, which is just awesome. It’s been such fun watching them all learn the sport.
Off to dinner tonight with JT, and then I’m suspecting it’s time to go buy some new music.
I’ve been having a fight with another Big Government Agency (BGA). In particular, there’s an employee who has been driving my BGA crazy. Their theories on our money have been absolute crap, they haven’t understood something that’s relatively easy, and it’s fucked stuff up for the past six months.
Today, their political masters overruled them while they were out of the office. My BGA got our money, the other BGA rolled over and played dead. Halleluiah. A six month fight is over, and by heavens, we won. Got the good news, and the paper proof, just before I left work, around 6:30 this evening.
Six months of hell, over. Halleluiah.
Did get new running shoes yesterday, but have done nothing with them yet, aside from dragging them home. I love buying running shoes, too, I’m probably the least difficult customer they get: “Yes, I’d like the Asics Gel Evolution in an eight and a half, 4E width. Thanks.” Always works, always does me right, no matter what they’re calling the shoe this year (they’ve changed the name at least three times in the 8 years I’ve been running).
Did bike around town yesterday on the mountain bike. Up to shoe shop, then to dinner, then home again. Such fun riding through city streets at night (not). Though my absolute favorite part is passing the folks who look like they’re uber-fit on their light little road bikes when I’m on my heavy, heavy steel frame mountain bike. Yes, it’s petty, but it gives me some measure of satisfaction that I can pass them on an uphill on my heavy bike. Might not be able to outdo them on a straight stretch, but I have at least that much ability on the hills.
Anyway, enjoying the last bits of slackersville, because the next event is just around the corner. In the meantime, club happy hour tomorrow, and a practice triathlon on Saturday for our newbies. Looking forward to getting going again, though. I get antsy after too much down time.
Counted the weeks until the marathon yesterday, it’s about 20 until the event, and I’ve not run a step since the triathlon. I need to get down to the local running store and get new shoes, though I could still run in the ones I have now that they’ve dried out. Looking at various training plans to see what I want to do to prepare for the event.
Last night was a lovely dinner with Brian at Cantina Marina. Margaritas, veggie burger, lots of dogs. Evidently Monday night is their “bring your dog to the restaurant” night and they had several cute pups out playing. The special is either a chili dog or corn dog for $1, and they provide snacks for the pups as well. Cool concept, especially for an outdoor space.
Dragged him back to show him the new apartment. After he left I straightened a lot more stuff up, put boxes away, etc. while chatting online. I’d love to get a small table that’s tall enough to chat on the laptop without having to bend over or sit down – when the boxes were piled up in here that was a possibility, and it definitely made chatting and cleaning much easier (I could just stop by, type a few pithy phrases and keep going). Perhaps on the one short wall where I’ve discovered that I now have room for a small table. We’ll see.
Only two more boxes of books left to be put away and then all boxes will be gone. Only two months in, that’s good for me. Now I just need to find a good shredder on sale so I don’t accumulate as much stuff as I did in the last two places…
Been texting off and on with last week’s date while he’s off on vacation. Trying not to bug him while he’s relaxing, yet still keep some contact. For the most part I’ve been succeeding, letting him get up on Left Coast time and text me first. Has been quite fun, he’s very flirty and good with words, both qualities I enjoy.
I think the thing I like most about Pride is that I get to get a whole lot o’ hugs. There are tons of people I always manage to run into at Pride whom I almost never see anywhere else. But pretty much everyone I see gets a hug, if I know them. Even if they don’t want one.
Marched in the parade this year for one of our city council candidates. He’s got one of the best records for queer legislation, as well as the best environmental record, labor record, etc. (if you’re a lefty, that is). But his campaign this time around has not been going as well as I’d like. He’s got a credible competitor this time, unlike the last time where there was a crowded field to take the pressure off of him as the incumbent. Frustrating. But I marched, and handed out leis, and saw folks (and didn’t see folks), and got hugs.
Had a brunch with fellow Body Electric school alumni, and again, more hugs. After that I wandered down to the Pride festival where I immediately ran into my evil twin, Marc. Fun story there, Marc and I look very similar, same height & weight, same hair, etc. We came to know each other because The Ex dated Marc shortly after I fled from him, mainly because he looked almost exactly like me (we understand there was a third twin out there somewhere, Marc saw him once, but we’ve never connected with him). Marc and I had great fun commiserating over how crazy The Ex was/is, but past that we enjoying hanging out together when we see each other. So Marc and I wandered the festival, stopping at few booths this time around, but jumping in to saw hi to folks we knew. Eventually we stopped in the middle of the thing and just let the crowds walk past us, which made seeing people we knew easier, actually.
Post-festival I wandered home and fell into something of a funk. To keep from simply wallowing in blahness I went ahead and rearranged my living room as I’ve been saying I wanted to do for a while now. The new set up now means, once I clear the assorted junk that’s now deposited on top of it, that I can actually use my dining room table without feeling like I’m hiding in a corner. It’s much more prominently placed in the room now and much more accessible. The desk is in the opposite corner, which meant relocating the cable wiring. I’m sure my neighbor was wondering why I was hammering in so many odd places yesterday afternoon. Now I have to figure out the art and put some assorted things away, but I’m finally pleased with the layout.
Despite that, it was still an awkward night in some ways. Getting home just felt, well, lonely. (and on a side note, I think I’m close to saying screw it to the co-op rules and bringing the cats home anyway; let them try something) I was suitably chastised for being so maudlin online last night, but one can’t always control one’s feelings, and I was just feeling down. I need to get refocused on some things, that will help, but there may be more changes coming for moi. Not a bad thing, certainly, and some changes I think I’m ready to accept and embrace. Not sure how they’ll be perceived by some, and I have to consider them carefully before jumping into anything, but I think I’m ready.
Anyway, enough being cryptic. Rainy morning here today, so it’s a walk to work kind of day rather than biking. Margaritas planned after work at the local watering hole, and then some more putting stuff away here at home. Might even show the place to a friend this evening. Thus far the only folks to see the apartment have been my parents and a couple tricks, but I think it’s ready for showing to friends.
Sleepy tonight, long day at work on not quite enough sleep. The first day back wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Did find out my semi-boss is going to transition into a plain ole coworker and we’re going to find a new semi-boss, which is fine, I like the semi-boss and am glad he’ll do that rather than burn out and/or leave; he’s good people.
Debating the course of my training now. I’d like to find another triathlon race this year as well as the marathon. In the meantime I’d also like to do some body work in the form of core training and some good yoga for balance. And I’d also like to focus on dropping some of the extra weight I’m carrying around, since it’s not exactly the most helpful thing to carry during a race. One day at a time.
And I still need to write up the race this weekend.
Did get some much needed laundry done, and some bike maintenance. Need to take both bikes in sometime soon to have them tuned. The rear deraileur on the mountain bike was being silly as I cleaned the chain tonight, so I suspect that needs looking at, and I should have the tri bike cleaned up after the rain mess it went through in the race. Also managed to get some bills sent off for reimbursement by insurance and my health savings account, so that will help the state of the savings account a little bit.
And now, time to crash. After I get some new shoes next week I’ll get back to running, but in the meantime, I’m enjoying being able to sleep in, even if only for an hour.
The date went well. I didn’t scare him off, he didn’t scare me off, and I’ll leave it at that. I like him, and I’m looking forward to seeing him again on Friday before he takes off for a week of vacation out of town.
I was going to sit down and write up the rest of the trip report, but I’m just too wiped out to do it, and I have other things on the brain tonight.
The race went well. It was wet, wet, wet, wet, wet. And not just the swim. But I’ll post more details later in a longer race report. I did finish, and about where I thought I would, which was not bad.
The trip was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed spending all that time with my parents. Again, I’ll post my final thoughts on that later.
Mostly my brain is focused on tomorrow. I have to run several errands on the final day of vacation, including getting a new driver’s license with the new address, picking up my backup glasses, a haircut, some exercise of some sort, and a dinner date. I’m actually excited about the date, which hasn’t happened in a while. But I don’t want to jinx it by overanalyzing it here. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to it.
So, until then, I’m going to go unpack and enjoy being back in my own bed (which doesn’t have springs to roll over in the middle of the night!!).